American Elite Tires

I am so sold on the American Elite Tires. I can’t believe I have been riding for 35+ years and never bought a set of these. I was always looking for something different and it seemed like everyone was running these. Now I know why. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be different.

I have run just about any tire out there over the past 35+ years. I was always looking for that “better tire”. I was always thinking that the tires that come on a new Harley can’t be the best tires, so I always looked at the other brands to find the tire that would last the longest and be the best tire to run in any type of weather or road conditions.

I mounted a set of American Elite tires on my bike right before an almost 3000 mile trip to Daytona Beach for Bike Week. I was so impressed with the way these tires make the bike feel. My bike is a 2013 Ultra. I ride pretty aggressively and these tires just seem to respond to whatever you throw at them.

On the trip to Daytona, we ran about 700 miles on the first day and one of the things that I noticed while cruising on the highway was the absents of tire noise. These tires also track perfectly. We were cruising at around 80 mph, and I never felt like I had to correct for any road imperfections or grooves.

I was also very pleased with the way the bike handles in turns. As anyone that rides a bagger knows, you sometimes get a wobble while in a turn that is often blamed on the geometry of the bike or alignment of the engine in the frame. My bike always had this slight wobble in turns, until these tires were installed. Even my wife noticed that the bike felt more stable and I wasn’t working the bike so hard to run through a turn.

I ride the bike daily to work, and now have about 5000 miles on them. At this point, they don’t show any noticeable wear, which I am very happy with as I have had many other tires that I would only get about 8-10 thousand miles out of. I am sure that I will be able to get far more miles out of these tires than other brands and be able to enjoy the way the bike feels and handles along the way. Don’t forget to check your tire pressure regularly. Ride safe.

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2 Comments

I rode on the OEM tires for years, Dunlop D402’s, I then switched to for one season to the Shinko 777 tires.

The Shinko tires had the cut-in, cut-out handling that the D402’s did not, however they did not have the longevity the D402’s had.

I then switched the first year to the American Elite, I was such the early adopter my HD shop had never heard of them and had to special order them.

Since then I ride only on the elites, better tire longevity, than the D402’s and a very similar profile to the shinko 777, for increased handling responsiveness.

This is all on a 1999 FLSTF, @ 55K on the ODO.

Ira
June 13, 2018 at 11:18 am

I used to use Michelin Commander II tires (which are also very good, but not made in the USA) but I installed a set of Dunlop Elites last year on my H-D Super Glide and really like how they feel and handle!! Plus they are made in USA.